Pirates Rumors

Pirates Claim Brandon Wood

By Tim Dierkes | April 22, 2011 at 12:09pm CDT

The Pirates claimed shortstop Brandon Wood off waivers from the Angels, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Wood had been designated for assignment by the Halos late Tuesday, and the Pirates were first in line in the waiver order.

The former top prospect is now 26 years old, and in 494 big league plate appearances with the Angels he hasn't had success. The Pirates present the perfect opportunity for redemption, as they're one of few teams that can give Wood regular at-bats at shortstop with some leeway for struggling. The scouting report is three years old, but before the '08 season Baseball America said Wood had unexceptional range but could "handle shortstop just fine" defensively. Though he's a shortstop by trade, Wood has played third base as well. MLB.com's Lyle Spencer wrote recently, "It was fascinating to see how different he was when he was in the lineup at shortstop rather than at third."

The claim was a no-brainer for Pittsburgh, a team with few interesting players in the shortstop pipeline. Ronny Cedeno is currently the starter, though the club sought upgrades all winter. The Pirates were able to get Wood for nothing, after the Angels seemingly kept the asking price high on him for years. The Pirates will have to open up a 40-man roster spot to accommodate Wood, and they've said they'll make the corresponding move this afternoon.

Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.

Brandon Wood Rumors: Pirates, Blue Jays

By Tim Dierkes | April 22, 2011 at 11:30am CDT

26-year-old infielder Brandon Wood was designated for assignment late Tuesday by the Angels, and there is "zero chance of him clearing waivers," tweets USA Today's Bob Nightengale. He'd be a fit for many clubs at shortstop or third base, as I outlined here, but he's more likely to land with a club that can give him some leeway to struggle in the Majors. Claims are due in by noon eastern time today, reports Colin Dunlap of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The latest:

The Blue Jays "expressed interest in trading for Wood as recently as this offseason," according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, so they could be interested now.
The Pirates will "almost surely" place a claim, tweets Dunlap. They have first dibs, as 2010 records are used within the first 30 days of this season to determine waiver order. The team's 40-man roster is currently full, so they'll either have to designate someone for assignment or put someone on the 60-day DL if they win a claim on Wood. Keep in mind that claims might not come into play if a team simply trades for Wood.
Brewers GM Doug Melvin told MLB.com's Adam McCalvy (Twitter link) that his team discussed going after Wood, but demurred since Milwaukee has no spot for him. I named the Brewers as one potential candidate for Wood yesterday.

Garrett Olson Clears Waivers

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | April 20, 2011 at 3:58pm CDT

WEDNESDAY: Olson cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A, tweets Colin Dunlap of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

FRIDAY: The Pirates announced that they designated Garrett Olson for assignment to create roster space for another southpaw, Joe Beimel. After a stint on the disabled list due to elbow inflammation, Beimel is set to pitch for the Pirates for the first time since 2003.

Pittsburgh claimed Olson from the Mariners in March and he allowed two hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings, striking out four and posting a 2.08 ERA. Last year, the 27-year-old posted a 4.54 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 37.1% ground ball rate in 37 2/3 innings of relief with the Mariners. Olson, a 2005 first rounder, started 33 games for the Orioles in 2007-08 before they traded him.

Pirates Sign Blaine Boyer, Brett Sinkbeil

By Tim Dierkes | April 20, 2011 at 12:34pm CDT

The Pirates signed pitchers Blaine Boyer and Brett Sinkbeil to minor league deals, tweets Baseball America's Matt Eddy.

Boyer, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in January after being non-tendered by the Diamondbacks, but was designated for assignment on April 10th. He elected free agency rather than accept an assignment to the Mets' Triple-A club. Boyer posted a 4.26 ERA, 4.6 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, 0.5 HR/9, and 65.8% groundball rate in 57 relief innings for Arizona last year. His groundball rate ranked third in baseball among those with 50 innings, and he averages around 94 miles per hour on his fastball, so he'll keep getting chances.

Sinkbeil, the 19th overall pick in the 2006 draft, was released by the Marlins in late March.

Quick Hits: Mariners, Indians, Orioles

By Zachary Links | April 16, 2011 at 3:25pm CDT

Links on a rainy Saturday afternoon in New York..

Buster Olney of ESPN (via Twitter) believes that Jack Zduriencik's challenge with the Mariners is a lot like Neal Huntington's when he took over with the Pirates. Both GMs, he says, had to work from almost nothing in the farm system.
The Indians will have to make a move to create a roster spot for the returning Grady Sizemore, writes Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer. The Tribe could theoretically shed spare outfielders Austin Kearns or Shelley Duncan but will most likely demote Travis Buck as he has an option remaining.
Steve Melewski of MASNSports writes that Orioles newcomers Vlad Guerrero and Derrek Lee usually get off to solid starts. Early on in 2011, both veterans have struggled at the plate.

Draft Notes: Cole, Rendon, Hultzen, Gray

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | April 15, 2011 at 12:27pm CDT

It's far too early in the spring for teams to have their draft boards finalized, as Keith Law pointed out at ESPN.com this week. With nearly two months remaining between now and the draft, a lot can change, but that doesn't stop Law from passing along the latest on the early intentions of some teams with high picks:

Law hears that the Mariners will take either Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon with the second pick in the draft, depending on which player is available after the Pirates select first overall.
The D'Backs, who pick third, covet Virginia left-hander Danny Hultzen, according to Law.
The Orioles are 'extremely likely' to take a college pitcher with the fourth overall pick. They could take Hultzen or Georgia Tech left-hander Jed Bradley.
The Royals (5th pick) are also likely to take a college arn and they're interested in UConn right-hander Matt Barnes, Hultzen and Bradley.
The D'Backs (7th pick) and Cubs (9th pick) have Vanderbilt right-hander Sonny Gray high on their internal rankings, according to Law.

2012 Contract Issues: Pittsburgh Pirates

By Tim Dierkes | April 11, 2011 at 10:40am CDT

The 2012 Contract Issues series kicks off with a look at the Pirates.

Eligible For Free Agency (1)

First baseman Lyle Overbay is the one Pirates player who is eligible for free agency after the season with no strings attached.
GM Neal Huntington is also signed through 2011. Team president Frank Coonelly told Rob Biertempfel in February, "He is under contract for this season and it’s our expectation that Neal will be here for a long time. He has hot been extended at this point. We’ll continue to evaluate it as we move forward."

Contract Options (5)

Chris Snyder: $6.75MM club option with a $750K buyout. It's difficult to picture Snyder being retained at a $6MM net price.
Paul Maholm: $9.75MM club option with a $750K buyout. Maholm is a prime summer trade candidate, but his option will probably be declined.
Ryan Doumit: $7.25MM club option for '12, $8.25MM club option with '13, $500K buyout. Another trade candidate, Doumit's options figure to be declined.
Ronny Cedeno: $3MM club option with a $200K buyout. Though the price is reasonable, I can see the Pirates declining and trying someone else at shortstop next year.
Scott Olsen: $4MM club option with a $100K buyout. Olsen appears headed to the bullpen once he recovers from a hamstring injury. This option is unlikely to be exercised. If it's declined, the Pirates must then decide whether to tender him a contract.

Arbitration Eligible (12)

First time: Garrett Olson, Chris Resop, Garrett Jones, Charlie Morton, Evan Meek, Jose Ascanio, Steve Pearce
Second time: Ross Ohlendorf, Joel Hanrahan, Jeff Karstens, Jose Veras
Third time: Scott Olsen

Not all of these players will make it to arbitration, as some could fail to accrue the necessary service time and others will be non-tendered in December or cut loose beforehand. Using CAA's Super Two cutoff projection of 2.146 years of service, Andrew McCutchen's first big payday won't come until 2013.

2012 Payroll Obligation

Cot's Baseball Contracts sets the Pirates' 2012 payroll obligation at just $10.625MM, with Kevin Correia accounting for more than a third of that. You can pencil in another $4MM or so for Hanrahan and Meek. If the Pirates want to be around $40MM again they should have about $25MM to play with.

Quick Hits: Buchholz, Ishikawa, Tabata, Rivera

By Luke Adams 2 | April 10, 2011 at 9:57pm CDT

Rounding up Sunday's links, as Andre Ethier celebrates his 29th birthday….

Jon Lester told WEEI.com's Rob Bradford that he didn't talk to Clay Buchholz about the pros and cons of signing a long-term extension before the right-hander inked a four-year pact today.
Travis Ishikawa admitted he hoped another team would claim him when he was placed on waivers earlier this season, according to MLB.com's Chris Haft. However, now he says he's glad he's still with the Giants organization and is excited to stay on the West Coast, playing for Triple-A Fresno.
Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette looks back at the trade that sent Xavier Nady to the Yankees. Kovacevic argues that even if three of the four players the Pirates received for Nady don't work out, Jose Tabata alone makes it a steal for Pittsburgh.
Juan Rivera isn't off to a good start with his new team, as Mike Rutsey of the Toronto Sun writes. The Blue Jays are reportedly interested in trading Rivera, but his performance so far likely isn't helping draw any interest.
The Indians will have some roster shuffling to do when injured players return, writes Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, who also addresses trade possibilites in a Tribe mailbag.
Nationals infielder Alex Cora should make a good manager someday, says MLB.com's Marty Noble.

Quick Hits: Villanueva, Looper, Red Sox, Wilson

By Mark Polishuk | April 8, 2011 at 10:59pm CDT

As the Giants raise their World Series banner with an assist from the Say Hey Kid, here's some news from around the majors…

The Brewers received cash, rather than a player to be named later, from the Blue Jays to complete the Carlos Villanueva trade, reports the team (and passed on by MLB.com's Adam McCalvy).
The Cubs aren't considering trying to lure Braden Looper out of retirement, reports ESPNChicago.com's Bruce Levine. Looper retired when he didn't make Chicago's Opening Day roster. With right-handers Andrew Cashner and Randy Wells on the disabled list, the Cubs have a sudden lack of pitching depth, but the team will turn to internal options like Casey Coleman, who will start on Sunday.
The Red Sox got their first win of the season today, but there's still plenty of talk about Boston's slow start. SI's Tom Verducci thinks there are legitimate reasons for worry, namely that Josh Beckett, John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka "have to suddenly reverse the downward trends of their careers in their 30s."
Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com also questions Boston's pitching, pointing out that barring rebound years from Beckett, Lackey and Matsuzaka, "they’re essentially the same team as the Yankees — terrific offense, deep bullpen, weak back of the rotation." Rosenthal, however, thinks it is far too early in the season for the Sox and their fans to panic.
Jack Wilson asked to be taken out of the Mariners' 7-3 loss to the Rangers on Wednesday, Seattle manager Eric Wedge told reporters today. Wilson implied that Wedge had removed him from the game, which upset Wedge, tweets Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. The Twitter feed of the Brock & Salk radio show on 710 ESPN Seattle reports that Wedge described Wilson's actions as "unspeakable" and wouldn't discuss the veteran infielder's status with the club.
Pirates right-hander Tyler Yates has a torn flexor tendon in his throwing elbow, reports Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. Yates hasn't pitched since 2009 due to Tommy John surgery, and Langosch reports that this latest injury might convince Yates to retire, a decision he's already considered earlier in his career.
The Diamondbacks are looking at Gerrit Cole, Anthony Rendon and Danny Hultzen with the third pick in this June's amateur draft, says Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. Sources on other teams think this trio will be the first three players taken in the draft, though perhaps not in that order. Arizona also has the seventh overall pick, and Piecoro notes that the D-Backs' priority with that pick is to draft a player they can sign. Vanderbilt's Sonny Grey and high schoolers Dylan Bundy and Taylor Guerrieri are some of the players Piecoro hears connected with this pick.
Doug Davis held another workout today, tweets Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus. Five or six teams were present, down from the eight clubs that watched Davis throw two weeks ago.

Pirates Release Craig Hansen

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | April 6, 2011 at 10:15am CDT

The Pirates announced that they released right-hander Craig Hansen, a former first rounder who was part of the 2008 Jason Bay trade. Pirates Prospects first reported the move.

The 6'6" 27-year-old arrived in Pittsburgh nearly thee years ago, when the Pirates sent Bay to Boston. Hansen appeared in 21 games for the Pirates over the course of two seasons, posting a 6.95 ERA with twice as many walks (24) as strikeouts (12). A rare nerve injury limited Hansen to 12 minor league appearances in 2010 and sidelined him for much of 2009.

Bryan Morris is the lone player from the Bay trade remaining in the Pirates' organization, now that Brandon Moss, Andy LaRoche and Hansen have been released. In 133 2/3 minor league innings last year, Morris posted a 3.03 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9. For the Pirates to salvage something of value from the Bay trade, Morris will have to provide value in the Major Leagues.

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